Creating And Sustaining A Collaborative Mentorship Team

In response to changes in the workforce, scholars are calling for mentoring that is more fluid, flexible, and responsive to the needs of diverse groups of individuals, whether culturally (Kochan & Pascarelli, 2012; Kochan, Searby, George, & Mitchell Edge, 2015) or intergenerationally (Thorpe, 2012) diverse. With these changes, there are greater demands for intergenerational and intercultural collaboration and mentoring. One response to these changes is to take a more collaborative, interactive, and transformational approach to mentoring. In response, this book provides a model for collaborative mentoring, based on best-practice, grounded in theory and research, and framed by the Dynamic Model of Collaborative Mentorship. Each chapter provides a description of one of the five components of the mentoring model which are grounded in theory and include: agency, values, engagement, patterns, and roles. Individual chapters provide resources, prompts and questions to guide reflection, and suggested readings. This book is authored by four individuals who work, research, and write as a team. The book itself is the product of their mentoring research as well as their mentoring practice in action. It is current and timely, focusing on team processes which are collaborative, dynamic, reflective, and continuously developing and evolving.

This collection is the result of action research carried out by teachers, administrators and professors operating a school-university collaboration. It creates a model of mentoring where guided but flexible structures are used to unleash the creative capacity of the group. The research accounts reveal much about the nature of mentoring organizations, as they are now and how they might be improved. Approaches include the use of lifelong mentoring, synergistic co-mentoring, professional peer networking and the creation of collaborative relationships and teams.

This volume of the Perspectives on Mentoring Series explores the role of mentoring in promoting wellbeing of both mentees or proteges and mentors in K-12 school settings. At its core, mentoring is about helping, advising, supporting, and guiding mentees and proteges to gain a wide variety of skills, abilities, and/or attributes. Another outcome of mentoring, less often discussed, is the positive impact it can have on the mental health and wellbeing of both the mentor and mentee. Of particular interest for this edited volume is how mentoring can promote mental health, build resilience, and develop capacity to maintain and sustain emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing for all in the K-12 school settings. The notion of wellbeing, in general, includes both hedonic aspects of feeling good (positive emotions) and eudemonic (conducive to happiness) aspects of living well that entail experiences of positive relationships, meaningfulness in life and work, senses of mastery and personal growth, autonomy, and achievement. This edited volume expands and adds to the existing literature on mentoring in schools, by offering a collection of works that examine the connection between mentorship and wellbeing. This volume includes chapters that describe effective mentoring for wellbeing, detail positive approaches to mentoring youth, offer recommendations for growing the wellbeing of pre-service teachers, early career teachers, and mid-late career teachers, illustrate approaches to growing a community of educators through mentoring and developing teacher leaders as agents of change and facilitators of wellbeing, and discuss studies and models for nurturing and promoting wellbeing among and through school leaders in national and international settings. Through these chapters, authors advocate for greater attention to how to support and nurture wellbeing as central to mentorship efforts in K-12 school settings. ENDORSEMENTS: "Mentoring for Wellbeing in Schools shines light on wellbeing in studies of mentoring in K–12 education. This collection provides researchers, practitioners, and policymakers alike with a rich array of wellbeing in mentoring relationships—not as an add-on feature of mentorship but rather an essential aspect of mentors’ support and role. As demonstrated from various perspectives, a culture of wellbeing in schools has multiple benefits for people and organizational cultures, including teacher and leader preparation. Readers, especially those concerned with the flourishing of schools in a pandemic world, will walk away better prepared to make mentoring work." — Carol A. Mullen, Virginia Tech "Effectively marshalled by Kutsyuruba and Kochan, respected international authorities on mentoring, the authors provide a wealth of examples and guidance on much-needed means of promoting wellbeing and human flourishing in schools. Given the vast number of threats and impediments to the wellbeing of students, trainee teachers, established teachers, and principals worldwide, this work is extremely timely. Arguably, it should be compulsory reading for school principals, mentors, teacher educators, mentor trainers, education researchers in these spaces, and – perhaps more importantly – anyone who holds public office and makes or has the capacity to influence decisions which impact the work of school teachers and principals." — Andrew J. Hobson, University of Brighton, UK

In striving to reduce racial achievement gaps, schools and youth development programs are increasingly turning to youth mentoring programs. But how to ensure success? Here, accomplished educators Graig Meyer and George Noblit reveal how one such program challenged institutional racism and eliminated persistent achievement disparities in a local school system that boasts a national reputation for excellence. The authors share personal lessons, strategic guidance, and detailed practical advice for education and community leaders seeking to create successful youth mentoring programs. Their story, backed by research, offers real-world perspective on the important work of challenging systemic racism in schools. Meyer and Noblit demonstrate how mentoring and advocacy come together in a strengths-based program that boosts academic success and post-secondary enrollment for youth of color, while also creating change to benefit all students in a school system.

Mentorship is a catalyst capable of unleashing one's potential for discovery, curiosity, and participation in STEMM and subsequently improving the training environment in which that STEMM potential is fostered. Mentoring relationships provide developmental spaces in which students' STEMM skills are honed and pathways into STEMM fields can be discovered. Because mentorship can be so influential in shaping the future STEMM workforce, its occurrence should not be left to chance or idiosyncratic implementation. There is a gap between what we know about effective mentoring and how it is practiced in higher education. The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM studies mentoring programs and practices at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It explores the importance of mentorship, the science of mentoring relationships, mentorship of underrepresented students in STEMM, mentorship structures and behaviors, and institutional cultures that support mentorship. This report and its complementary interactive guide present insights on effective programs and practices that can be adopted and adapted by institutions, departments, and individual faculty members.

How can you create a school environment where everyone — staff and students alike — will become an active, engaged learner? How can you develop a collegial school culture that will improve morale, expand professional opportunities, and raise student achievement? How can you make a difference in your school? Judy F. Carr, Nancy Herman, and Douglas E. Harris show how to transform your school into a dynamic learning community. Drawing on decades of experience and success, these former educators and trusted consultants provide expert guidance on * Identifying potential leaders and fulfilling their professional ambitions * Selecting coaches and strengthening professional development capabilities * Recognizing and maximizing the talents and resources of veteran and beginning teachers * Establishing a self-renewing, satisfying mentor program * Designing and running effective study groups Whether you are a teacher leader, district supervisor, or principal, these valuable and practical strategies will help you build and sustain collaborative relationships in your school—and embark on a shared journey toward mutual support, continuous learning, and higher achievement.

School and district leaders will discover how to develop, assess, and sustain a collaborative, team-based mentoring program that helps retain new teachers and improve student achievement.

Building and Maintaining Collaborative Communities: Schools, University, and Community Organizations is a new and noteworthy volume in the literature on collaboration among schools and universities. It expands the playing field to include both publically and privately funded community organizations and the effects of the interaction of the three on projects in a multitude of settings both domestically and in international venues. Asked to analyze their projects following the Slater Matrix, nineteen examples provide an inside glimpse into the success and limitations of each project. Chapters are organized in order of complexity of type of collaboration. The editors expect this to be a useful guide for university personnel, school administrators, and community organizations wishing to embark or expand on projects involving schools, universities, and community organizations. In a time of short resources and uncertain sustainability, it should serve as a useful tool in making decisions in the planning, process, carrying out, and analysis of each endeavor.